The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1887-09-01

until it has become an important
companion with the protective tariff
in pauperizng and depressing the poor
its effect does not extend over so wide
range of territory as that of the tar
| iff, which eats up the wealth of the
| farmers of the whole nation as a con-
suming fire.
The internal revenue has wrought
its injury in the tobacco growing
states most ravishly, and in these has
been a running sore upon our politi-
cal civilization for several years. 1t
has long since been SO denounced by
one of the now existing political par
ties. The farmers will make no polit-
cal revolution, as the Madison CORES
pondent suggests, to have this odious
system of war tax abolished. The
party that originated and maintained
this process of confscation for twenty
one years is in the minority in North
Carolina by large majority, and the
farmers of this state at least have al
ready to large extent allied them
selves to the party through which
alone the abolition of the internal
revenue can safely be expected.
The correspondent under consider
alton, speaking of the internal reve-
nue. says: at would have been better
for us all if, instead of continuing the
internal revenue system, the govern
ment had confscated all the land in
the tobacco growing regions and sold
it at auction to the best bidder in
1865, for the direct way of doing the
thing is always better in the long run
than the indirect way" IF this is his
conv iction why does he support, and
applaud it and the party that favors
it, to the farmers of North Carolina, a
protective tariff, which is nothing if it
is not an indirect taxation upon all
the people of this country who use
and consume manufactured articles?
The sentence quoted could have
read very appropriately with the fol-
lowing changes "It would have been
better for US all, if instead of contin-
uing the protective tariff, the govern
ment had in 1875 confscated all the
surplus masses of wealth accumulate
ed by corporations and monopolists
under protective tariff and circu-
lated it among the agricultural
classes out of whom it had been ex-
tracted, to aid the developement of
agriculture, for direct confscation is
always better than indirect confiscat-
ion" Again our correspondent re-
marks, with some dignity and conf
dence:
"The internal revenue has robbed
the people of more than FIVE times
enough to pay for every acre of tobac.
co land in the Union ; SO that it has in
effect not only confscated our lands
but the labor of our farmers for twen-
ty-two years and has made them
among the poorest people in the civ
ilized world. Let me illustrate by a
comparison. The people of Stokes
county, one of the leading tobacco
counties of the State, are worth pc,
capita OILY seventy-seven dollars
The people of the mining districts Of
Pennsylvania are worth from $1,25C
to $4,000"
He forgets to mention that Penn
sylvanla contains the large manufac
turing and mining corporations made
rich and powerful by high and grind
ing protective tariff. He forgets te
say that Stokes county contains al
most exclusively farmeas made pool
and uninfuential by a high and
grinding protective tariff on manu-
tactured articles used by them. While
the internal revenue has wrough,
damage in Stokes county it and higf
tariff together have wrought almos
financial destruction in all the farm
ing districts of the country. Having
carefully read the article of the Re
publicaas's correspondent, and taking
into consideration that he quotes will
unqualified endorsement part of th'
recent platform of the Ohio Republi
cans, I am reasonably led to thu
conclusion that he is a fisherman
fishing among the agricultural water
of North Carolina in the interest O
the Republican party.
SUBSCRIBER.